All Girl Challenge - Fire Emblem Sacred Stones

This is a challenge I made for Fire Emblem games. Since I love female characters more than male characters, why can't I have a play through where I can only use female characters? Thus, the All Girl Challenge was born.
Fire Emblem Sacred Stones, the 8th game in the series, and the 2nd one released outside Japan.

First of all, let's list the available characters who will be in this challenge.

1. Eirika, princess of Renais
2. Vanessa, pegasus knight from Freila
3. Neimi, the childhood friend of Colm
4. Lute, the prodigy
5. Natasha, a cleric from Grado
6. Tana, the princess of Freila
7. Amelia, an orphan from Silva
8. Tethys, a dancer
9. Marisa, one of Gerik's mercenaries
10. L'Arachel, princess of Rausten
11. Myrrh, a manakete from Darkling Woods
12. Syrene, commander of the pegasus knights of Freila

This challenge was done on the hardest difficulty.

I had some difficulties in the first few chapters, because using only 2 or 3 characters in a map and getting surrounded is not cool. This goes for the chapter where you recruit Artur and Lute. As the number of available troops increased, the maps became easier, maybe because of the troops getting more EXP than they normally would in a normal play through.

Notes:

If you're wondering which path I chose, of course it's Eirika's route. What is a challenge when the protagonist herself is not included?

Everybody is level 20 before job promotion.

Characters recruited in a very low level had a visit in Tower of Valni 1st floor once (twice for Amelia: 1 as recruit, one as knight).

Here is my team by the time I'm battling Formortiis:

First of all, here is Eirika, the protagonist. She's great for performing sallies, just be careful of enemies using high level magic.

For Vanessa, I chose Falcoknight over Wyvern Knight to give way for Tana to be the Wyvern Knight. I don't use Vanessa in previous play throughs, but I figured she's pretty decent. I had her hold the Fili Shield since Tana has more bulk than her.

Here is my first RNG disappointment. A sniper who cannot finish off enemies easily due to the lack of strength. I just chose sniper over ranger because I know sniper is better in stats. She holds Nidhogg (duh, only female bow user).

Lute is one of my best units. The only problem is her fairly low defense and skill, making it hard for her to perform sallies, and hit fast enemies with any tome other than Fire. She can't even survive one hit against bosses in the last few chapters. I chose Sage over Mage Knight since Sages deal more damage and have better stats. She wields Excalibur.

The main healer of the group, since I can't rely on her battling due to her low skill. She does help in battling the undead with her slayer skill. I had her hold Latona even though I never used that staff.

One of my favorites in every play through is Tana. I just chose Wyvern Knight so I can utilize the pierce skill, and I need more bulky units. Like in every play through, I let her wield the Vidofnir.

Her decent growth rate, and lots of levelling up made her invaluable. Her roles are physical tank and axe user (yes, she is the only one capable of using an axe). I chose General over Great Knight because General provides more bulk, and the Great Shield ability is good especially in sallies. I made her wield Garm.

 

Another disappointment to the RNG. All I can do is rely on her Silencer ability. Marisa supposedly is planned for Swordsmaster, but because of the need of Lockpick user rising, I had no choice. Even with her low strength, she still holds Audhulma.

The hardest unit to train, yet one of my best units. I used the Metis Tome on her since she will be having the most level ups after using the tome compared to other characters. I chose Valkyrie over Mage Knight since enemies in the last part of the game all have dark weapons, so light magic will take care of that. She wields the tome Ivaldi.

Supposedly, I'm not supposed to use her, but I figured that I need more units that can deal major damage to the final boss. With her low luck, she can be easily defeated, but I made her hold the Hoplon Guard, and she became a foomidable unit.

 

I don't know why I even bothered using her. Her stats are still inferior to Tana and Vanessa even after some level ups. The only reason I need her is for Tana to perform the Triangle Attack. Only Tana can lead the attack because of her being a Wyvern Knight.

He did nothing in the final chapter. The only reason he's here is because he's a required character. He did nothing in the final chapter anyway.

 

Unfortunately, I can't use her in the final chapter because of Ephraim being required.

Here is a scene of the final attack to Formortiis. Notice Vanessa and Syrene on the other sides, and Tana executing the attack. This results to triangle attack, but wait.

Tana performed the Triangle Attack, but also used pierce. Now that is something I don't see in every playthrough.

Fire Emblem If - Things I Look Forward To

A new Fire Emblem title is on its way to the Nintendo 3DS. If you saw the teaser of the game, you can see that it uses the same engine as Fire Emblem Awakening.

There are many features, which I hope will appear in this new game. Let me tell you first that these features which I hope to see, are greatly influenced by these games in FE series:

1. Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (GBA)
2. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (Gamecube)
3. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (Wii)
4. Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)

 Now, let's move on to the things I wanted to see.

1.) Return of the Trinity of Magic
Anima > Light, Light > Dark, Dark > Anima
This feature appeared in Fire Emblem 6-10 if I'm not mistaken. This was absent in Shadow Dragon and New Mystery of the Emblem which is understandable as these are remakes. This also did not appear in Fire Emblem Awakening, maybe because of the timeline. This happens a LOT of years after the time of Marth, where the trinity doesn't exist. Another reason could be the limitations of available classes in the game.

As much as the chance of this returning is low, based on the trailer, I'm still looking forward to it as it adds additional care and planning to magic users, just like in previous games. The only strategy I've seen in Awakening without this is to watch out for Superior Tomes and Tomebreaker.

2.) Third Tier Jobs
This feature appears in Gaiden and Radiant Dawn. In Radiant Dawn, the third job is where a character unlocks its full potential by acquiring skills like Sol, Astra, and Aether.

Maybe this also won't appear in the new game, because grinding up to the third job takes a very long time. In fact, the story in Radiant Dawn is quite long, making this possible. For this to appear in the new game, the story would have to be a long one.

3.) More Job Variety
I loved how Radiant Dawn made a lot of jobs. There are the cavaliers, but each having their preference of weapons, thus getting the names Sword Knight, Lance Knight, Axe Knight, Bow Knight. There are also for the mages: Wind Mage, Thunder Mage, Fire Mage, Light Mage. Additional weapon type usage are added upon job promotion. If I'm not mistaken the last would be the armor -> general one. They can wield the three weapons in the weapon triangle, depending on their job name.

Other jobs that I would like to see would be the Soldier -> Halberdier -> Sentinel class. A lookalike is seen in the trailer, but it is yet to be known if it is indeed the soldier class. Personally, this is one of my favorite class in Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn (hello Nephenee). It's like a less bulky knight but faster. The best part? No weakness from hammer.

4.) More Laguz "sub-humans" if these are coming back
We have seen the dragon type (Nowi, Nah, Tiki) and the beast type (Panne, Yarne) laguz in Awakening. If ever the Laguz will reappear in the next game, I would like to see flying type laguz. These could be hawks, ravens, or other flying creatures. These would make excellent flying units.

5.) Weapon Weight System
In previous games, weapon weight plays a large role. Heavier weapons can potentially slow down a unit, making him/her unable to execute double attacks, and may suffer from an enemy's double attack. No matter how fast your unit is, getting weighed down by weapons will affect your strategy.

6.) No Skirmishes
Okay, some of you may be against this one, but I find a game without skirmishes more challenging. As I have experienced in Awakening, the game becomes very easy when you're over-leveled. If this is going to happen, please, don't make it very hard to level up, and insanely hard to defeat. It's too difficult to level up in Awakening without having the skill Paragon.

If there will be skirmishes, I prefer them to be in the post game. Honestly, grinding breaks the game. Remember Sacred Stones?  The huge part of grinding takes place on post game, in order to finish the Lagdou Ruins.

If there would be no skirmishes, meaning no grinding, this could lead to...

7.) No Second Seals
Instead of reclassing to obtain wanted skills, I would prefer the skills transferable between units. Why? I hate grinding when the experience gain is too low (hello Lunatic and Lunatic+).

8.) Individual Design for Each Character
Take a look at Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. Each character has their unique outfit, even though they are of the same class. An example would be Mia and Lucia, both Trueblades (3rd job of myrmidon). They keep their original color scheme, rather than having the same just because they have the same class.

I really did not like how Awakening used generic outfits for them. An example would be the Sage class. Only Emmeryn and Lissa have their unique outfits, the rest have matching outfits. Every character has to be unique not just as a character, but also in appearance.

9.) Awesome Storylines
So far, Radiant Dawn has the best storyline for me, even though I'm not yet finished with the story yet. I'm close to finishing it though.
Of course, what is a game with a story that is so meh.

10.) Lovely Characters
Honestly, I loved female characters more than male characters. In fact, my team in Radiant Dawn is made up of female characters (except for some required males like Ike and Sothe).

Female characters are what makes me enjoy these games more, especially when they are lovely.

Of course I can't hope for all these to be in the new game, but isn't it okay to wish for them? In Filipino, "Libre lang mangarap."

My First Game on the 3DS

Before, I don't know anything about the Nintendo 3DS. I never heard of it. I might end up not knowing about this handheld console, then came this specific game.

No, it's not Pokemon X/Y, nor it is Fire Emblem: Awakening. I already decided to have a 3DS XL before those games were announced. I bought a Nintendo 3DS XL thanks to this game:

The box of the game.

My answer may seem a bit odd, but I'm not kidding one bit. My love for Final Fantasy and rhythm games really convinced me. I've been watching videos of people playing on Youtube, and I told myself, that someday I will be getting that. Just watching the videos made me understand the game mechanics.

As the game is called, this game is a rhythm game. You use the stylus and the touch screen as the ONLY method of input for this game. I recommend applying screen protector especially for the lower screen. The lower screen will not only be exposed to taps, but to slides as well, a lot of them.

The game title screen

Challenge Mode Song Selection

The game features songs from Final Fantasy titles, Final Fantasy up to Final Fantasy XIII. Each title has a "Battle Music", "Field Music", and  "Event Music". In Series Mode, each title has an additional prelude and ending theme, both just for collecting Rhythmia.

The story is very plain, but it does not matter, because the game play is much more important for this genre.

Just like other rhythm games, there is a health bar. But this is no ordinary health bar, the total is based on the stats of the characters currently in use.

Characters also have skills. From helping in keeping the health bar from reaching zero, to further boosting their stats, skills can be set according to the player's gaming style.




Songs under Battle Music, as the name implies, are songs used during battle. These are songs ranging from random battles, to final boss battles. In my opinion, the challenging part of the game lies under the battle music.

Battle Music

Songs under Field Music are usually the overworld themes of each title, unless the game itself does not have an overworld theme. Examples of this would be Final Fantasy X, up to Final Fantasy XIII, I guess.

Field Music

Songs under Event Music are songs from important events of the game. This is where the 3D function of the 3DS works at its best, especially in Final Fantasy VII onwards. I remember a friend of mine saying that he'd rather watch the cinematics in 3D than play the event music. I think that's a normal reaction for someone seeing 3D without glasses for the first time.

Event music

Chaos Shrine mode, is where you can unlock other characters, through obtaining crystals.You can also obtain other items the easier way. Instead of playing songs continuously in challenge mode, trying your luck, in Chaos Shrine you may already see what possible items to obtain.

For the selection of playable songs,  I actually like most of them, but I got disappointed for some songs. A case of this would be for Final Fantasy X. Mi'ihen Highroad gets picked over Zanarkand for the field music. Isn't Zanarkand the more popular one? Zanarkand appears in Chaos Shrine, but I don't like that mode.

Even though I did not like Chaos Shrine, that mode really did something for me. That mode introduced me to some songs of Final Fantasy XI to Final Fantasy XIII, since songs Chaos Shrine levels are from 20 selected songs (10 field, 10 battle). Thanks to this mechanic, the song "The Sunleth Waterscape" became one of my favorite songs in the game.

After some time playing this game, I felt that the songs are too few. I bought downloadable content, to further enjoy the game. I bought 19 songs in total. This may sound costly, but it was totally worth it, until... (Oops! That's for next time.)

Overall, this game is awesome. Praise the guy/gal who thought of this idea. All I can say is, be prepared for nostalgia! It's a must have for lovers of Final Fantasy Soundtracks and rhythm games. Thank you Square-Enix for a wonderful game!

Pardon me for having not-so-clear photos in this post. I'm still working on how to have a clear shot from those high frame rates. I don't like grabbing photos left and right. I want to use my own photos, except in special cases.

About the Blog and the Blogger

Hello, reader.

Welcome to my gaming blog! You can refer to me as robin_emblem, or Robin. My second name is actually Robin, and I took 'emblem' from the game Fire Emblem: Awakening, where Robin is one of the protagonists.

This blog, as the name says, will be all about games. This would be more about my opinions, and hopefully, reviews on upcoming games like Bravely Second and Fire Emblem 14. My posts may also be play through of games.

First and foremost, my first posts might focus on Nintendo games, since I own a Nintendo 3DS XL, and I have a lot of games under that handheld console.

Thank you and happy reading!